Best Laid Plans One Round Chambered
by Ticklefish
Summary: Just what do you do when you're a medic for a non-existent police unit? Rebecca Chambers knows exactly... Please r&r.


Best Laid Plans - One Round Chambered

by Ticklefish

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><p>Foreword:<p>

This is really just a bit of fun. It's worth reading Best Laid Plans I - The Winged Rat to understand the ending, but you really don't have to. Please read and review!

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><p>She couldn't help but puzzle at it.<p>

This was the moment she had been working up to.

This was what all the campaigning, all the speeches, all the endless public appearances and all the long, long, sleepless nights had been for. This day. This hour. These precious few minutes. Only thirty left now. Thirty short minutes that would forever change her life.

In half an hour, she would either continue to be the nobody that she had been all her life or she would be the greatest somebody the world had ever known. And yet.

And yet.

And yet she was utterly bored. She had worked stolidly for this moment for longer than she cared to think about but suddenly there was nothing left to do. Nothing save sit in the over-priced and far too uncomfortable chair and wait.

Just wait.

Shouldn't be too hard. After all, it's only thirty minutes. Twenty-eight now, she corrected herself. Surely she could stave off boredom for that long. Surely. She had before. Back in her previous life, she spent hours waiting around in colder and more uncomfortable places. Although even Wesker's chair wasn't as uncomfortable as this one.

* * *

><p>"..thing I can get you, Ms Chambers?"<p>

"No, I'm fine. Thank you."

Rebecca shook her head then, in sudden terror, added a smile to her face. It wouldn't do to look proud and standoffish.

Or too overly manic, got to look professional, she thought and quickly dialled down the intensity of her smile, trying to ensure that at least some of her teeth weren't on display. A small swell of panic rose within her as she felt her professional veneer vanishing with every adjustment to her face. With rigid determination, she settled for a faint upturning of the corners of the lips and offered a silent prayer that the man in front hadn't been put off.

In fact, he hadn't noticed. The sunglasses he wore made it hard to see exactly what he was looking at but it seemed that his attention was elsewhere.

"So...," he said finally, "why do you want to join our merry little crew?"

"I'm looking for a career where I can properly utilise my skills. I've heard a lot about S.T.A.R.S. and everything about it sounds exactly like the sort of place I'd fit in perfectly."

She allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction. That answer had been practised a hundred times over and she was certain it had the right mix of confidence and contrition.

"Uh-huh," the man smirked, "I don't really need someone who can bullshit. I've got enough of those already."

Rebecca felt herself start to blush and fought hard to keep it under control.

"I'm being honest, Mr Wesker. I know what I'm capable of, I know what I'm good at and I genuinely feel like I'd do well here. I'm not giving you..er..bullshit, I'm just telling the truth."

Besides, she thought to herself, you're the one who invited me into interview, you must have had a reason.

Wesker leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together.

"Oh, I don't think you do know what you're capable of at all." he said slowly, "Not one little bit.."

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes left to go.<p>

It's amazing how slowly time can drag by when you have nothing to fill it with. There was absolutely nothing to do. All the paperwork had been written, signed and filed in triplicate. The speeches had been made and were ready.

Two speeches in fact, one of humble joy and one of polite dissappointment. The champage was on ice and the conversation in the office was at a low hum.

Rebecca looked around. Her friends and staff looked busy enough but, as sure as night follows day, their eyes would always drift towards the big clock on the wall. Below it hung the television which, in eighteen minutes time, would tell Rebecca either bad news..or the very best news of all.

Bad news...almost of its own accord, Rebecca's mind found itself thinking about that time many years ago. In a city that no longer existed.

And a man called Billy.

* * *

><p>Billy Coen was just a guy.<br>(One hunk of a guy.)

He was a convicted criminal.  
>(He was a man who could handle himself and had just the right amount of danger and excitement about him.)<p>

He was a good person at heart.  
>(But bad, oh so deliciously bad.)<p>

Rebecca had let him go.  
>(Though she screamed inside for him to stay.)<p>

Rebecca had no romantic interest in Billy. He wasn't her type and they were completely unsuitable for each other. Her mother would definitely not approve.  
>(Rebecca fancied Billy like crazy, the thought of his lips pressed to hers drove her mad at times and as for her mother...well, she could go hang.)<p>

She didn't need Billy in her life.  
>(She needed him.)<p>

She didn't want Billy in her life.  
>(She wanted him like crazy.)<p>

* * *

><p>Rebecca looked at the clock and had to take a few moments to understand what it said.<p>

Eight minutes remaining.

Eight. How on Earth had she just spent ten minutes thinking about one man? A man she hadn't seen in years and when she had seen him, they had spent most of their time together trying to avoid being killed. She didn't even want to see him now. If people found out that she had let a convicted criminal escape, everything she had worked for since then would be destroyed. Gone like so much chaff in the wind.

Still..in the dead of the night, when she was all alone in her apartment with the empty seconds slowly ticking by..she couldn't help but think what things would be like if they were together. His face, his body, her lips, her naked desire crying out for release..

Their bodies joined as one taking each other to greater and yet greater heights of pleasure..

Those were the nights that Rebecca didn't get much sleep at all.

There were times that she wondered if any of her teammates had been any luckier in love than she. Wesker had hired her despite her sloppy interview and she had become the youngest person to join an elite division of Raccoon City's police department. She had made friends quickly and soon was an essential part of the unit.

But despite everyone spending more time with each other than they did their families, love just didn't seem to get any foothold. Even when it seemed obvious to everybody else that it was already there.

* * *

><p>Holding her tray, Rebecca scanned the refectory looking for a spare seat. There were a lot of uniformed officers around but she always found that Uniform had a very crude sense of humor. She could normally cope with them, but it had been a long day and she wanted to have her lunch without any comments about her breasts.<p>

She sighed, it looked like she would have to eat in the office again. The office was a bit too small really and the captain was there. There was something about Captain Wesker that made Rebecca a bit uneasy and she didn't think she could face her salad with those sunglasses burning into the back of her head.

She was about to turn away when she saw a figure waving at her. Breathing a second sigh, this time one of relief, Rebecca weaved through the tables and sat down next to Barry Burton. Barry was the father figure of S.T.A.R.S. He was married, had children and there was just something altogether calming about him.

"Hello kid, how's things?" he said with a smile on his face as she spread her food out in front of her.

"Uhh..tiring..the captain's got us doing those Health & Safety forms. They're a nightmare!"

Barry chuckled.

"Ah, but they're important, if you've had your head blown off, you'd better pray you've filled in the right box or you're in REAL trouble."

"I guess...," she gathered a forkfull of food, "I've finally finished all mine so I've been set free."

With that, she started chewing with every sign of enjoyment.

"So who's still left up there?" asked Barry.

There was a short pause while Rebecca finished her mouthful and then she replied.

"Oh, just Jill and Chris. Y'know, it's pretty amusing. They're ten times the agent I am but faced with a form and they just crumble."

Barry laughed at that.

"Oh, you think so, huh? You haven't noticed that they're like that only when they're together, I take it?"

"Er..no. Should I have?"

"Well, somebody has to. They certainly haven't noticed it themselves. They're just blind, those two. But hopefully they'll see one day. Sooner or later they're bound to realise how they feel about each other."

Rebecca's second fork stopped midway to her mouth which grew wider and wider as the meaning of Barry's cryptic words sank in.

"You mean that..that they are in..well, that they feel..that..well..you know?"

"That's exactly what I mean. Pretty obvious when you think about it. Just watch them next time you get the chance."

"But I thought Jill was with Joseph? He was talking about it just the other day."

"Ah, but," Barry drained his cup and stood up to go, "there's something you should remember about Joseph."

"What's that?" said Rebecca frowning, her food forgotten.

Barry bent close and whispered in her ear.

"Joseph's a prat."

With that he left and Rebecca could only watch him in a stunned silence.

* * *

><p>Less than three minutes now. The room was quiet, all eyes firmly fixed on the screen on the wall. The figures had started coming in and all seemed to be going well. But everybody knew just how easily it could go wrong. All it would take was for one state to feel badly towards her and Rebecca's campaign would come crashing down in flames.<p>

Two minutes. There were many contenders, there always were, but only two had any chance. Rebecca was one of those two but for every step closer to victory she came, the other one took one too. It was just too close to tell.

One minute. The bulk of the votes were in. The majority of the country had voted and Rebecca was neck and neck with the opposition. No-one in the office dared make a sound. Her campaign manager was by her side but as much as she tried, she couldn't tell if the man was breathing or not. For that matter, she wasn't sure if she was either. The whole room was frozen. Nothing existed except for that television screen. Nothing was real, nothing mattered, all there that existed was a small piece of glass and plastic on which the whole future rested.

Zero minutes.

The final votes were in.

Being double-checked.

Being added to the total.

The announcer on the television said their thing.

Rebecca's campaign manager turned to her, looked in her eyes, drew in breath and said just three things.

"Congratulations, Madame President."

And all that could be heard were cheers.


End file.
